Laser Capture Micro dissection system

The IGC is a large multidisciplinary cross-college institute situated within the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. IGC includes three world renowned research centres that advance knowledge and deliver basic science concept to clinical and commercial outcomes within one world leading laboratory complex. The institute, together with its partner Deaneries and the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine provide a fertile and dynamic environment for medical research.

In late 2023 the IGC will be launching a new centre for Four Dimensional Cellular Medicine. This includes developing research facilities to expand the capability of the IGC to investigate and spatially resolve the genome/transcriptome/proteome/metabolome of tissue, organoid and organotypic samples. The aim ís to leverage advances in multi-omics technologies to drive advances in personalised medicine and drug discovery.

For this we have obtained funding for an automated Laser Capture Microdissection system. This proposed instrument will enhance the capabilities of the University of Edinburgh to investigate and characterise cell/tissue heterogeneity with spatial resolution down to the single-cell (SC) level. The system needs to be capable of automatic dissection of many samples. Because of the anticipated throughput of samples the system is also required to interface with machine-learning-assisted cell identification and characterisation.

The solution must be able to develop and implement machine learning algorithms that can autonomously identify and isolate single cells or morphologically similar cells with single-cell resolution and capture the selected samples into microwell plates up to and including 96 well plate or better.

The instrument will be unique to both the University of Edinburgh and to the surrounding areas. Our funders have asked that the instrument be available for the wider research community to access. Because of this we anticipate the system will be heavily used to mitigate against research being impacted by instrument downtime we would require a system engineer to be available for onsite support within 48 hours of a support request and access to technical specialist support as required.